Publication:
Building a Dataset for Non-Tariff Measures and its Usage: The Case of Indonesia and Applicability for Other Countries

Abstract
As import tariffs have been declining over the past decades, non-tariff measures (NTMs) have become the most frequently used measures in trade policy. The increasing use of NTMs in global trade has highlighted the need for timely, high frequency and accurate data in order to better understand the implications that NTMs have on products, firms and the economy. This manual describes the first high-frequency panel dataset built by the World Bank on the universe of NTMs applied by a country, i.e. Indonesia. The manual includes a comprehensive overview of the purpose, building procedures and usage of the data for Indonesia. The dataset expands on and improves on existing data on Indonesian NTMs collected by other institutions (UNCTAD and ERIA) by covering a broader source base, customizing the data, and by increasing the frequency of updates. By documenting the data collection and transformation process, the manual hopes to facilitate the construction of similar datasets in other countries.
Link to Data Set
Citation
Montfaucon, Angella Faith; Cali, Massimiliano; Agnimaruto, Bayu; Silberring, Jana Mirjam; Hasmand, Agnesia Adhissa; Lakatos, Csilla; Pasha, Mochamad. 2023. Building a Dataset for Non-Tariff Measures and its Usage: The Case of Indonesia and Applicability for Other Countries. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/39463 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Report Series
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Publication
    Non-Tariff Measures, Import Competition, and Exports
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-10) Cali, Massimiliano; Montfaucon, Angella Faith
    The empirical evidence on the impact of import competition on economic performance relies mainly on import tariff liberalization as the source of changes to competition. This paper extends this evidence by focusing on non-tariff measures, an increasingly important trade policy tool globally. The analysis examines the competition effect of four specific non-tariff measures on the exporting activity of the universe of Indonesian firms. The focus is on measures that do not clearly address any negative externalities of imports—the supposed objective of non-tariff measures—and hence appear to be protectionist in nature. The results suggest that by restricting import competition, these measures reduce the survival of firms in export markets as well as the intensive and extensive margins of their exports. Non-tariff measures have a more negative effect than import tariffs in most cases and these results are robust to various checks. The analysis provides suggestive evidence that markups are an important channel through which these effects are mediated.
  • Publication
    Trading Towards Sustainability
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-01-22) Montfaucon, Angella Faith; Lakatos, Csilla; Agnimaruto, Bayu; Silberring, Jana Mirjam
    Climate change - and efforts to mitigate and adapt to it - will affect global flows of trade and Indonesia’s ability to transition to a more environmentally sustainable economy on its path to become a high-income economy is, therefore, interlinked with trade policy. Environmental policy stringency (EPS) is increasing around the globe - a crucial challenge lies in harmonizing these with sustained economic growth, yet both goals can be reached. Although trade flows facilitate emissions, they are also a critical part of the solution, including through trade in environmental goods (EGs) and plastic substitutes - with important economic spillovers. This report provides a detailed analysis of the role of trade and trade policy on EGs and plastic substitutes in Indonesia’s green transition. Chapter one describes the need for, and urgency of, this transition, by looking at the carbon intensity of Indonesia’s trade, the impacts of environmental policies of Indonesia and key trading partners, and the roles of EGs. Chapter two examines where Indonesia stands on the level of trade in EGs and plastic substitutes and the competitiveness of EGs trade. Chapter three explores trade agreements and tariffs and simulates potential impacts of tariff reforms - including through multilateral actions. Chapter four examines what non-tariff measures (NTMs) apply on the products including inputs of firms exporting EGs and assesses which NTMs may be costly. Finally, chapter five concludes with policy recommendations.
  • Publication
    Gain without Pain? Non-Tariff Measures, Plants’ Productivity and Markups
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-05) Cali, Massimiliano; Le Moglie, Marco; Presidente, Giorgio
    This paper studies how productivity and markups respond to non-tariff measures. The analysis uses a novel time-varying data set on all non-tariff measures applied to imported products by Indonesia. Price and quantity information is used to disentangle the impact of non-tariff measures on plants’ technical efficiency and markups. The findings show that on average, non-tariff measures generate fewer distortions than import tariffs do. However, while specific non-tariff measures increase the quality of the products on which they are applied, others act as barriers to trade similar to import tariffs. These results suggest that to gauge their impacts and guide policy making, non-tariff measures should not be bundled together in empirical analyses.
  • Publication
    Reforming Non-Tariff Measures
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2018-06-13) Cadot, Olivier; Ferrantino, Michael J.; Gourdon, Julien; Reyes, José-Daniel
    High levels of trade costs persist in the world trading system, despite recent progress in tariff reduction, trade facilitation, and logistics. At least some of these costs can be attributed to non-tariff measures (NTMs), policies imposed by governments other than ordinary customs duties which have an impact on the price at which exports and imports are traded, the quantities traded, or both. Such costs are particularly worrisome if they have a discriminatory or protectionist effect, or violate countries’ international commitments. However, even NTMs designed to carry out domestic regulatory objectives – for example, protection of human, animal or plant health, consumer or workplace safety, or the environment – can have substantial effects on international trade, which should be considered when such policies are developed. This book discusses some of the analytical methods that can be used to accompany the process of policy development for NTMs. It discusses the broad economic rationale for improving the design of NTMs;, illustrates the main forms of quantification of NTMs and their effects, including inventory approaches, price-based approaches, and quantity-based approaches; proposes a new analytical and measurable concept of “regulatory distance” to help guide deep integration efforts at the regional level; provides a discussion of the effects of NTMs on household expenditures, poverty, and firm competitiveness; and shows how empirical analysis of NTMs can be used to inform policy advice. As such, it should provide a valuable addition to the arsenal of tools available for applied analysis of international trade policy.
  • Publication
    Trade Policy and Exporters’ Resilience
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-05) Cali, Massimiliano; Ghose, Devaki; Montfaucon, Angella Faith; Ruta, Michele
    How does trade policy affect exporters’ ability to respond to foreign demand shocks Faced with a sudden change in the demand for their goods, exporting firms must optimally change their inputs and/or input sources. This paper tests whether a country’s own trade policy makes such adjustments harder for firms that rely on imported inputs. The analysis exploits new time-varying data on tariffs and non-tariff measures faced by Indonesian firms and focuses on the impact of exchange rate shocks on exports to Japan. In response to a depreciation of the yuan, which makes Chinese exports more competitive, the findings show that firms that face non-tariff measures on their inputs see a much larger drop in their export values compared to firms that do not face any non-tariff measures. That is not the case for import tariffs on inputs, which do not affect the export response to the shock. This difference is consistent with the (partial) fixed costs imposed by non-tariff measures on imports in contrast to the pure variable costs of tariffs. The magnitude of this effect depends on the type of non-tariff measure and on firms’ characteristics, such as their participation in global value chains, size, and product quality.

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

  • Publication
    Taxes, Spending, and Equity: International Patterns and Lessons for Developing Countries
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-11-17) Wai-Poi, Matthew; Sosa, Mariano; Bachas, Pierre
    Taxes and public spending underpin the basic administration of government and finance the human capital and infrastructure investments needed for economic growth. They can also have a significant and immediate impact on poverty and inequality. The question of how public finance can support longer-term growth objectives while promoting equity has become even more important in recent years, given the high fiscal deficits and debt levels most countries emerged with in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. These included the increasing cost of debt and the need to restart environmentally sustainable growth while helping households address the learning losses and other social scars caused by the pandemic. This paper examines the global evidence on which households pay which taxes and who benefits from what spending, and critically, the net effect on different households across the income distribution. The aim is to identify the patterns and lessons that emerge for designing progressive fiscal policies. A global dataset of 96 countries is assembled, spanning all regions of the world and all national income levels, grounded in the Commitment to Equity (CEQ) approach to fiscal incidence.
  • Publication
    EdTech in Developing Countries
    (Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2021-08-02) Rodriguez-Segura, Daniel
    The emergence of educational technology (“EdTech”) in developing countries has been received as a promising avenue to address some of the most challenging policy questions within educational systems. In this paper, I review and synthesize all existing studies with credible causal identification frameworks of EdTech interventions in developing countries. While other studies review the evidence for EdTech interventions in developed countries, there is currently no equivalent study for developing contexts, in spite of the rising number of studies being produced. I classify studies into four thematic categories based on the type of EdTech intervention analyzed: Access to technology; technology-enabled behavioral interventions; improvements to instruction; and self-led learning. I find that EdTech interventions centered around self-led learning and improvements to instruction are the most effective forms of EdTech at raising learning outcomes. Similarly, technology-enabled behavioral interventions are less promising for generating large effects but highly cost-effective given their typically low marginal costs. Although expanding access to technology alone is not sufficient to improve learning, it is a necessary first step for some other types of interventions. More broadly, the overall success of interventions rests on the thoughtful customization of the EdTech solution to the policy constraints at hand. Finally, EdTech interventions across all thematic areas can and should act as complements by leveraging their respective comparative advantages to address deficiencies within educational systems in developing countries.
  • Publication
    Trading in Green
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-03-07) Montfaucon, Angella; Lakatos, Csilla; Agnimaruto, Bayu
    Although Indonesia’s economy has diversified over the past decades, natural resource extraction remains a key sector for both the domestic economy as well as international trade. Indonesia’s ability to diversify away from primary products, reduce carbon emissions, adapt to climate change, and transition to a low-carbon economy is strongly interlinked with trade and trade policy. To position itself to benefit from the global transition to a non-carbon economy, Indonesia needs to adapt to new sources of international demand, adjust its existing productive capabilities, and cultivate new green industries. This note analyzes the carbon content of Indonesia’s trade flows.
  • Publication
    Digital Africa
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13) Begazo, Tania; Dutz, Mark Andrew; Blimpo, Moussa
    All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.
  • Publication
    Gender Earnings Gaps in the World
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2012) Daza, Nancy; Ñopo, Hugo; Ramos, Johanna
    This paper documents gender disparities in labor earnings for sixty-four countries around the world. Disparities are partially attributed to gender differences in observable socio-demographic and job characteristics. These characteristics are used to match males and females such that gender earnings disparities are computed only among individuals with the same characteristics, as in Ñopo (2008). After comparing males and females with the same characteristics we found that the earnings gap falls on a range between 8% and 48% of average females' earnings, being more pronounced in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. The unexplained earnings gaps are more pronounced among part-time workers and those with low education.